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Page |2 CAF S In sti tut e The surface tension of water, and The force of gravity.
Surface tension affects the ability of a liquid to spread across a given surface. This is why water tends to bead on horizontal surfaces, and roll down vertical surfaces. Waters surface tension limits the surface area in contact with the fuel, as most of the water either beads or runs off, limiting its ability to absorb heat under actual fireground conditions. What is Class A Foam? While firefighting foams of various types have been around since the late 1800s, most of them have been designed for use on flammable liquid and other Class B fuels. The only foams which were intended for use on Class A fires were the high-expansion (200 to 1000:1 expansion rates) types originally developed for fighting fires in coal mines. These foams are best used as smothering agents where they are forced into compartments to displace air. With such high expansion rates, they have very little water within them to perform any significant cooling. While some work was done in attempting to utilize high-expansion Class A foam for manual application in structural firefighting, the concept really was limited to basement fires and fires in other compartments which had very limited openings. Like any other foam, high-expansion foam is another specialized weapon in our fire fighting arsenal. It is, however, very effective in fixed building fire protection systems for some special hazards. The Class A foam technology of today is totally different from that of the past and has come about because of work in the area of wildland fire control. The most important Class A Foam concepts are: How Class A foams enhance waters capability to control structural fires, How the technology, Including CAFS, used to produce and deliver these Class A foams work, and How the new Class A foam technology can enhance structural firefighting operations
Figure 1. A CAFS Institute instructor supervises a crew using a CAFS handline prior to making entry into a burn building during live-fire training in New Jersey. Training and education are a significant part of the overall program when adopting new technology. This cannot be overemphasized.
form of bubbles on the fuel surface. Rather than running off, the water applied in the form of foam remains on the fuel surface and continues to absorb heat until it is all gone. Thus the water is held in position so that more of it is effectively utilized for cooling the fuel. Class A foams were originally developed for use in wildland fires, and had their origins in the Texas Snow Job first used in 1977 by wildland firefighters in Texas. The Texas Snow Job made use of pine soap as the foaming agent. Since that time, work has been done to develop the optimum Class A foam, with the first being developed in the early 1980s. While these agents were originally intended to make the water available to wildland firefighters more effective and to essentially stretch it a little further, they demonstrated great value in the exterior protection of structures in wildland fire situations. This was vividly demonstrated in the fires in Yellowstone National Park in 1988.
Figure 2. An attack team assembles and initiates fire attack with compressed air foam. The knockdown power of compressed air foam provides more bang for the buck from fire attack resourcespersonnel, equipment and water supply. Simply, using CAFS, initial attack teams can handle a much greater volume of fire than ever before.
more of the solution's surface area contacts the fuel, thus increasing the altered water's rate of heat absorption. In addition, Class A foams have an affinity for carbons and form a cooling foam blanket that is "oilloving." The foam solution has a physical attraction to the charred carbon layer on most burning Class A fuels, which allows water to first cling to and cool the surface, and then drain out of the bubble blanket, to spread, wet, and penetrate the fuel.
Foam Solution
A mixture of water and foam concentrate is called a foam solution . Class A foam solutions generally consist of from 0.1% to 1.0% foam concentrate. They have excellent spreading and penetrating properties because of their low surface tension. However, they do not reduce runoff due to gravity. Thus, while foam solution as an extinguishing agent is suited to some tactical applications such as deep-seated wildland fuels or garbage dump fires, foam solution, itself, is not in the optimum form for structure fire attack situations because it doesn't cling to vertical surfaces.
Finished Foam.
Finished foam is foam solution that has been "aspirated" to make the solution bubble. Children blowing bubbles dip a ring in a form of foam solution and then aspirate the bubble when they blow on the film of solution suspended on the plastic ring. In making firefighting foam, aspiration is achieved by mechanically agitating the foam solution to add air which creates a bubbly mass of finished-foam. It is the bubbles in the aspirated or finished foam that allow the agent to cling to the vertical surfaces
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Page |5 CAF S In sti tut e of fuels and hold the water-based liquid in place until it has absorbed enough heat to evaporate. You can perform a simple demonstration of the difference between foam solution and finished foam. Take a soda bottle and fill it about halfway with water. Then add a couple of teaspoons of liquid detergent to the water. The water and detergent is essentially a foam solution. Cover the top of the bottle and shake it vigorously. You will see that the solution is bubbly -- the solution has expanded into "finished-foam." If you really want to see a high quality foam bubble structure, pour the solution into a blender. Since the blender creates much more agitation than shaking the soda bottle, the bubble mass will be much denser. Finished-foam bubbles also provide a temporary vapor-seal for Class A fuels that assists in fire extinguishment by affecting both the fuel and oxygen components of the fire tetrahedron. Foam bubbles create dead air spaces that insulate the fuel from heat and flames thereby slowing heat transfer to the insulated fuel and flame spread. The most important fact to remember about Class A foam is that regardless of the type of foamgenerating system used, it is the water within the finished foam that actually extinguishes the fire. All the foam concentrate does is make the water work better. Under ideal conditions, 100% of the finished foam will cool the fuel or penetrate the fuel to which its applied with no runoff. However, achieving 100% efficiency on the fireground is very unlikely. This is because the efficiency of a foam application is affected by variables such as foam production methods, application methods, application rates, as well as the fire situation itself.
Foam Proportioning
While there are a number of foam proportioning devices available, we will look at three basic methods. These are: Tank (batch) mixing Eduction Direct Injection
Eduction
Another method of mixing foam solutions is to use some form of foam eductor. An eductor is a mechanical device which makes use of a venturi and atmospheric pressure to force foam concentrate from a container into a stream of water. Most foam eductors are generally designed for flows from 60 to 95 gpm, and have adjustment settings of 0.5, 1, 3, and 6% to regulate or proportion the proper quantity of foam concentrate to the amount of water passing through the eductor. In general, however, Class A foams are usually proportioned at 0.5%. Of critical importance in using foam eductors are the following: The rated flow of the nozzle used must match that of the eductor. If the eductor to be used is rated at 95 gpm, then the nozzle used with it must have a 95-gpm rating. The eductor manufacturers recommendations for pump discharge pressure and maximum hoseline length must be closely followed. The nozzle must be fully opened position during use, maintaining the rated flow, or a loss of foam concentrate in the fire stream will result.
The Process
After the foam solution and plain water are properly proportioned to create foam solution, the foam solution is ready to be applied through a discharge device onto the burning fuel. The amount of aspiration and the type of discharge device are contingent on the fire problem at hand. This is where experience, training, and available resources come into play. The finished foam that provides the best knockdown and extinguishment characteristics for structure fire attack is a low-expansion, quick-draining foam comprised of small, uniform bubbles. A finishedfoam with an expansion ratio of 7:1 of finished-foam to foam solution, produces a wet frothing foam, which increases the waters surface area for efficient heat absorption, yet still holds a sufficient amount of water on the fuel to wet the surface and extinguish the fire. Does the fire problem dictate a dense finished-foam? A quick-draining finished-foam? A very lightly aspirated foam? A deep-seated fire in a bale of paper, for example, may require using a foam solution in its raw form without aspiration. Protecting exposures will require an air-aspirating nozzle that forms a slower-draining finished-foam blanket that adheres to, insulates, and wets the exposure for a considerable length of time. Different low-expansion foam-generating devicesfog nozzles, air aspirating nozzles, or compressed air foam systemsproduce different qualities of finished-foam bubble structures bubble sizes, bubble durability, and bubble drain time. These variables have a direct correlation to the efficiency and effectiveness of the foam for different tactical challenges.
Page |8 CAF S In sti tut e burning tire or rubbish piles, cutting off oxygen while wetting and cooling fuels. Medium-expansion foams are also excellent for mop-up and overhaul.
Figure 3. When confronted with a large volume of fire, applying compressed air foam through portable master stream devices has become the norm. The light-weight foam filled hose makes easy movement of the monitor to positions where the foam stream can be most effective at extinguishment.
Compressed air is injected into the foam-solution stream in the fire apparatus, where it mixes with foam solution in a mixing chamber and the discharge hoseline. CAFS rely on the "scrubbing action"
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Page |9 CAF S In sti tut e or turbulence within the mixing chamber and hoseline to create finished-foam. Foam bubbles produced in this way are very small and consistent through this highly efficient method of generating foam bubbles. In a CAFS, approximately 90% of the foam solution is converted into foam bubbles. All that is needed for a discharge device is a ball valve or smoothbore nozzle. The finished-foam is ready for application as it leaves the last section of hoseline. Adjusting the amounts of water, air, and foam concentrate entering the discharge alters the characteristics of the finished-foam produced. Foam can range from wet (milky consistency) to dry (shaving cream consistency) by varying the amount of air that is injected into the discharge. Wet foam is ideal for structural fire attack while dry foam is ideal for wildland structure protection applications. In addition, the discharge distances of CAFS attack lines and monitors are dramatically increased with the addition of energy from the air compressor. In general, CAFS discharge is usually much farther and holds a much tighter pattern than plain water and conventional systems. The most noticeable difference between CAFS and nozzle aspirated foam is in direct fire attack. CAFS attack lines dramatically reduce knockdown times, generate much less steam, and create virtually no runoff or water damage. In operation, the apparatus pump pumps water from the water storage tank through a pipeline where
Figure 4. Compressed air foam first clings to and then wets fuels. This makes for a much more effective and less time consuming overhaul process.
foam concentrate is injected. From this point on, foam solution continues through the pipe to a point where air from the air compressor enters the pipeline to form the finished foam. From this point to the actual discharge device, finished foam is propelled. The key difference in a CAFS is an air compressor that has the capability of delivering air in the
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P a g e | 10 CAF S In sti tut e order of 200 cfm. The introduction of this air on the discharge side of the fire pump not only aerates the foam solution but ads energy to propel the foam through hoselines to discharge devices and then onto the fire.
Using CAFS, we can handle a much greater volume of fire than ever before. This know-how has redefined our perceptions of what we can do with initial arriving resourcesour personnel and water supply. CAFS use can impact firefighter decision making in regard to fire control strategies at potential large-loss structure fires. Without CAFS, in some severe fire cases, we would ordinarily choose a defensive water application strategystand back, let the main body of fire burn and protect exposures. When deploying CAFS, we are highly effective with an aggressive offensive fire attack with initial arriving firefighting resources. As an end-user of CAFS generated Class A foam for over two decades, Ive come to expect quick knockdowns and reduced total water supply need, sometimes by as much as two-thirds, as compared to using water alone. Time after time, fire after fire, CAFS show significant benefits over straight water. These benefits include: Fire extinguished in less time; Fire extinguished with less total water supply; Reduced personnel stress from advancing lightweight compressed air foam-filled hoselines; Reduced personnel stress due to quick extinguishment; Firefighters have to spend less time performing overhaul operations; Reduced personnel exposure to heat and the toxic products of combustion; Greater fire volume extinguishment from the initial exterior foam application point (when conducting an offensive attack on a fully involved dwelling) prior to the crew making aggressive entry; Reduced fire and water damage to structures; More effective exposure protection applications; Increased likelihood of victim survivability; and
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P a g e | 11 CAF S In sti tut e Increased efficiency of personnel and available resources. ****** Dominic Colletti is the author of two books "The Compressed Air Foam Systems Handbook" and "Class A Foam Best Practice For Structure Firefighters." Colletti is a former assistant fire chief and serves on the technical committee of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1500 Fire Department Occupation Safety and Health Program. He is a fire instructor with over 20 years of CAFS tactical firefighting experience. Dominic can be reached at CafsExpert@aol.com